Chapter 3 - The File Hidden Under Adrien’s Father's Grave
The chamber became too small for all the truths inside it.
Adrien stared at Isabella.
"Explain."
His aunt looked tired.
Not frightened.
Not surprised.
Tired.
"Sixteen years ago, your father learned that Elias Vale was using the continuity network to blackmail people throughout the city."
"And he killed him."
"Yes."
Clare stepped forward.
"No. That's not the whole truth."
Isabella looked at her.
"You were there."
"I was nineteen."
"And you remember."
Clare nodded.
"I remember enough."
Adrien looked between them.
"What happened that night?"
Isabella exhaled.
"Your father went to confront Elias. Thomas Bennett went with him because Thomas was the only person who understood how to dismantle the system."
"And Clare?"
"She was hiding."
Clare said, "I wasn't hiding."
Isabella almost smiled.
"You were terrified."
"I was listening."
"To what?"
Clare looked at Adrien.
"To Elias telling your father that if anything happened to him, the red network would activate on its own."
Adrien's skin prickled.
"Automatic."
"Yes."
"The network could outlive its creator."
"It was designed to."
He looked at the red phone in his mind.
Three pulse rings.
One continuity line.
A system that did not obey its owner.
"Then who controls it?"
Isabella pointed at Clare.
"No one."
Adrien stared.
"The phrase?"
"An integrity phrase," Isabella explained. "Only a handful of people knew it. It doesn't give control. It proves that the system is being used under compromised authority."
"Which means someone inside my organization tried to activate it this morning."
"Correct."
Marcus looked at Hail.
"Victor."
Hail didn't answer.
Adrien's gaze hardened.
"Who has access?"
Hail finally spoke.
"Only four living people."
"Names."
"Me. Marcus. You."
"And?"
Hail looked toward Clare.
"Her."
Silence.
Adrien looked at Clare.
"You were an authorized keeper."
"I was supposed to be."
"What changed?"
"My father died."
Hail said, "Thomas didn't want her exposed."
Clare's eyes flashed.
"You don't get to speak for him."
Hail ignored the comment.
"After the fire, Thomas created a false identity for her. Clare Bennett became the public record. Everything before that was buried."
Adrien's voice lowered.
"Then who are you?"
She hesitated.
"My birth name is Claire Vale."
Adrien blinked.
"Vale."
"Elias Vale's daughter."
There it was.
The missing piece.
Adrien remembered the photograph.
The younger girl.
The strange files.
The reason the red phone responded to her voice.
The woman who had become his secretary.
He took one step back.
"You came here to spy on me."
Clare looked wounded.
"At first."
Marcus tightened his grip.
Adrien stared at her.
"For what?"
"To find out if you were like your father."
"And?"
"You weren't."
"That's convenient."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"That's the problem."
Adrien looked away.
Outside the chamber, gunfire sounded again.
Isabella glanced at the monitors.
"They've breached the thirty-seventh floor."
Marcus swore.
"We need to move."
Adrien ignored him.
"You said at first."
Clare's eyes met his.
"Yes."
"What were you supposed to do after spying on me?"
"Find the red ledger."
"What ledger?"
"The original record of the network."
Adrien frowned.
"I have never seen it."
"Because your father hid it."
"Where?"
Clare hesitated.
Isabella answered.
"Under his grave."
Marcus stared.
"You're kidding."
"No."
Adrien looked at the clock.
"How long until they reach us?"
"Six minutes."
"We go to the cemetery."
Marcus shook his head.
"The city's crawling with people looking for you."
"Exactly."
Adrien grabbed the monitor.
"Nobody expects the target to move toward the answer."
They left the chamber through an underground tunnel leading to a private garage.
Adrien's armored sedan was waiting.
He drove.
Marcus sat in front.
Clare sat behind Adrien.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Rain began to hit the windshield.
Finally Adrien asked, "How many times did you lie to me?"
Clare answered honestly.
"More than I can count."
"How many times did you save my life?"
She was quiet.
"Four."
Adrien looked at her in the mirror.
"You kept score?"
"I needed proof that I wasn't becoming the person my father feared."
"What does that mean?"
"My father believed people were machines. Give them enough pressure and they reveal their programming."
"And you?"
"I believe people become what they choose when nobody is watching."
Adrien stared at the road.
At the cemetery they parked near the rear wall.
His father's grave stood beneath a rain tree.
Adrien had visited it on the anniversary every year.
He had never noticed the stone beside it.
Clare did.
"There's something wrong."
"What?"
"The plaque."
She stepped closer.
Three letters had been carved beneath the date.
A-V-E.
Adrien wiped away rain.
There was a seam in the stone.
He pressed it.
Nothing.
Clare touched the bottom edge.
"Your father always used three-part keys."
She looked at Adrien.
"His ring."
Adrien removed his signet ring.
He placed it against the seam.
The stone clicked.
A section opened.
Inside was a black metal case.
Adrien pulled it out.
The lock opened when Clare whispered another phrase.
Inside lay a ledger.
And a photograph.
Adrien picked up the photograph.
His father stood beside Thomas Bennett.
Behind them were two teenagers.
Adrien recognized himself.
He was fourteen.
The girl beside him was sixteen.
Clare.
He looked at her.
"You were there."
She nodded.
"We met."
"You don't remember."
"Why would I?"
"Because your father erased me from your memory."
Adrien stared.
"Why?"
Clare's voice became smaller.
"Because he knew that one day you'd inherit everything."
She looked at the photograph.
"And he was afraid you'd be forced to choose between the Moretti name and the truth."
Adrien opened the ledger.
The first page contained a list of payments.
The second contained names.
The third contained one sentence.
If Adrien Moretti opens this book, protect Claire at any cost.
Adrien looked at her.
"Why?"
Clare shook her head.
"I don't know."
He turned the page.
There was another sentence.
If she tells him the truth, the network will identify her as the final threat.
Adrien froze.
"What does that mean?"
Clare stepped back.
The red phone in Adrien's mind seemed to ring again.
Then his cell vibrated.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said, "Don't open the last page."
Adrien looked at the ledger.
He opened it anyway.
A photograph slid out.
It was a hospital.
A baby.
A woman.
And Adrien's father standing beside them.
On the back were five words.
She is your brother's daughter.
Adrien stopped breathing.
He looked at Clare.
Her face had gone white.
"I didn't know," she whispered.
The man on the phone laughed.
"Now you understand."
Adrien's hand tightened around the phone.
"Who are you?"
The answer came softly.
"The man your father failed to kill."
The line went dead.
Clare whispered one name.
"Elias."
Adrien looked at the rain.
May you like
For sixteen years, everyone had believed Elias Vale was dead.
Now somebody had just told them otherwise.
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